Forever Young
by DraconisNight130
Summary: Sad little two-shot about Naruto's birthday. Warnings: character death, suicide, self-harm
1. Chapter 1

**Forever Young**

**DN- Ah, Frenchie, this one makes me cry…*sniffle***

**F- Don't be such a baby. You wrote the fic in the first place!**

**DN- But it's just so sad~ *pulls out spotted handkerchief***

**F- Sigh, DraconisNight130 does not own Naruto or the song Letterbomb by Green Day. Read and Review, please…**

_Nobody likes you..._

_ everyone left you..._

_They're all out without you..._

_Having fun._

Rain tumbled lazily down upon the littered streets of Konoha as young children in red and orange fox masks ran between their guardian's legs. Their lilting laughter was lost in the din of pattering raindrops. Adults celebrated and drank like there was no tomorrow. The vibrant colours of the Kyuubi Festival seemed a dreary, lifeless gray in the heavy drizzle of the late autumn, but that did little to dampen the people's spirits. For on this night 13 years ago, the hero of the village, the Yondaime Hokage, succeeded in vanquishing the nine-tailed demon fox. At least that was the story taught to the younger generation. You see, no mortal can kill a demon lord, so the young fire shadow was forced to seal the beast in a living vessel. An infant with its umbilical cord freshly cut.

But this night was not a night for such somber thoughts, despite the depressing weather. This night was for joy and remembrance of those who lost their lives to the monster and protected the village from the crazed beast's rampage. All citizens of Konoha wandered the crowded streets, laughing jovially and having a good time. That is, all citizens except one...

No light entered the ramshackle apartment. Old, festering cup ramen containers littered the somber, threadbare carpet and water and wind tore in through the cracks in the boarded up window as if solely to torment the tortured soul of the apartment's occupant. If one were asked to describe the space, it would be 'as though even rat wouldn't be able to stomach living in such filth'. The sheer disarray if the rooms was enough to make Konoha's resident lazy genius want to clean, which is definitely saying something about the utter chaos that dominated an observer's sight. The mysterious russet stains encrusted upon the floor were undeniably concerning and an overwhelming stench of rotten food and general filth permeated the air and underneath it all, a faint coppery scent hung ominously.

Shallow breaths could be heard emanating from the most secluded shadowed corner of the bedroom. The rain fell faster and hardened into hail and the unforgiving October climate reared it's ugly head.

"Happy birthday to me..." the hoarse whisper was almost lost beneath the noise of the pounding storm. A figure crouched dejectedly in the darkest corner of the room, bloody kunai arranged around him like some sick depiction of friends surrounding the birthday boy. On the boy's forearms, no trace of the once tanned skin could be seen, there was too much blood.

He silently cursed himself for thinking it would be safe too go out this year. He had thought he had friends, or that the villagers would have calmed down by now. He was a fool, and because of it, he wound up with burn scars where his eyes used to be, countless bloody gashes, eight broken ribs and so many bruises he looked like a human eggplant. Even Kyuubi could not regenerate his eyes.

The child's body stiffened in determination once more as he swiftly took up the closest blade and held it to his chest, directly above his heart.

"Happy birthday to me..." The song became the focus of the blond container's world. His abused voice and throat produced a sound like sandpaper on bone.

A knock sounded against his bedroom door. Someone had gotten inside. He ignored the frantic pounding, in a minute everything would cease to matter anyway. He pressed down on the knife hard enough to draw blood.

The door slammed open and the teen, had he his vision, would have been graced with the sight of the Emoduck and his faithful stalker, each sporting a face contorted in shock. The jinchuuriki gave his trademark fox-like grin and pressed down hard on the kunai.

"Happy birth day, dear demon. Happy birthday to me..."


	2. Chapter 2

**DN- As per the request of my reviewer, kanja, I've written another chapter of Forever Young.**

**F- DN, are you crying again?**

**DN- N-no…I just have something in my eye…**

**F- Sure, sure, I believe you~**

Sasuke grumbled weakly as the dreary October weather began to get on his nerves. Just how exactly had Sakura been able to convince him to go to this damn festival, anyway? Oh right, she'd threatened to tell everyone about that Snorkel Incident. Sasuke shuddered involuntarily but was able to pass it off as the cold. He glared at his surroundings, as if daring them to comment. Bright, cheerful stalls lined the city streets while silk banners waved in the tempestuous winds.

The last Uchiha swerved to avoid the children chasing each other down the crowded roads, their red fox masks flashing in the torchlight. Sasuke was sure they would bring back unwanted memories for the older generation, but he couldn't bring himself to berate the joyful youths. Is that what he would've been like, had Itachi not gone mad?

This was the first time in his memory that he had attended a Kyuubi festival. Yes, he'd heard all the stories about the Fourth's courageous last stand against the beast that destroyed half of Konoha before it's demise, of his great sacrifice, but he failed to understand the need for a celebration of the day when hundreds of people died.

The raven-haired boy was pulled from his musings by his green-eyed companion. She had latched onto his arm, smiling and laughing, as she dragged him off to one of the game booths. He supposed she thought of this as a date, however Sasuke knew that he would never be able to look at her as more than a teammate and vexing little sister. Sadly, any relationships he wanted would have to be put on hold until he could kill his brother, who would undoubtedly use any of his bonds against him. He suppressed the urge to sigh at the thought. The girl skipped away into the crowds, calling for him to follow.

"Hn, Sakura, wai-" Crash! Sasuke was sent sprawling, cursing himself for his inattention. The boy looked over at the person he'd walked into and was surprised to see the Hyuuga heiress on the ground clutching her head.

"O-oh, h-hello S-s-sasuke."

"Hn" Luckily, Sakura showed up at that point, thereby saving Sasuke from the painful task of being articulate.

"Good evening, Hinata. What brings you here? Looking for your date? So, who's the lucky guy?" If nothing else, Sakura was a master of gossip, and being out of the loop must have miffed her.

"N-n-no, um, I-I was j-just looking for N-n-n-naruto-kun," mumbled the pale-eyed kunoichi.

"Hn. The dobe said he wasn't coming tonight." Hinata looked down at this but quickly looked up with determination in her eyes.

"Do you know where he lives?" The girl asked without stuttering, which shocked Sasuke, but he brushed it off however.

"Follow us."

Sasuke had never been to the Uzumaki's house. In fact, neither had any of the Rookie 12. The dobe had always found ways to stop people from coming. He'd gone so far as to tell his friends that it had been burnt down and he was in the process of rebuilding. The idiot had probably just left his stove on.

The walk was silent, with the only sound coming from the worsening storm. Sakura looked about to say something but at that point the trio came upon Naruto's apartment building. It was small and isolated, as though the surrounding buildings had been burnt down. They entered carefully, watching to make sure the walls weren't about to come down around them. Graffiti covered the hallways and Sasuke was sure he could see something about killing a fox, although why someone would write that, he had no idea.

He stopped at the dobe's door and knocked impatiently. There was no response, but Sasuke could hear shallow breathing. He was starting to panic and he could definitely smell the oppressive scent of blood hanging coyly in the surrounding air. What was going on?

"Sasuke, I can smell blood."

"Hn." Sasuke pounded harder and the rusted door hinges broke, sending the door falling with an almighty crash. He sprinted to the bedroom, ignoring the moldy old ramen cups and russet stains on the gray carpet. Sakura followed and also bore witness to the sight.

There, in the corner of the room sat their teammate, their friend, their annoying little brother. Bleeding and bruised, the boy held his kunai in a death grip above his heart. An odd scratchy sound could be heard, and Sasuke realized Naruto must have been singing.

"…thday, dear demon. Happy birthday to me." On the final word, Naruto shoved down with all his might. Blood went flying and Sasuke fell to his knees in shock and despair. He was gone. Sasuke had always taken him for granted, scorned him and ridiculed him, and now he was gone. Beside him Sakura screamed, but the sound felt like it was coming from a million miles away.

He saw Hinata rush over to the body, wailing and sobbing, begging it not to be true, for this all to be a sick nightmare. Sasuke sat there in the beaten up apartment for what felt like eons. Tears were streaming down his face for the first time since his family dies, and in a way it had just happened again. His brother in all but blood was dead.

Eventually, ANBU arrived and carted the body away. The three teens were escorted home and the festival carried on through the night with the rest of the village unaware of the night's tragedy. But he knew. Sasuke knew what had happened, and he swore to himself not to ever forget his brother, and to carry on _his_ dream, even if it meant letting go of all his hate. Because that was what _he_ would have wanted.


End file.
